Global Warming "Threatens 2,000 Islands"

Indonesia's vast and densely populated coastal areas are also at risk if climate change causes sea levels to rise, say environmentalists JAKARTA -- Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands but it could lose about 2,000 of them within 100 years if global warming is not halted, an environmentalist has warned. Global warming also has the potential to put Indonesia's vast and densely populated coastal areas under water, the head of the Pelangi environmental group Agus Pratama Sari was quoted by the Indonesian Observer as saying. He predicted the disappearance of islands due to rising sea levels, referring to data showing that the hottest years on record had all been in the last decade: 1990, 1995 and 1997. He was addressing the two-day Asia Pacific Regional Consultation on Climate Change in Jakarta, which ended yesterday. A member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Mr Sutamihardja, also warned that global warming would be likely to increase world temperatures between 1 deg C and 3.5 degrees C over the next decade. The global estimate for rises in the sea level over the next 100 years was between 60 cm and 1 m, he added. ""In Indonesia, with a total maritime zone of 85,000 sq km, it could be bad,'' Mr Sutamihardja was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying. Mr Sari said Indonesia stood to suffer because of its vast sea territory. ""We are the victims here,'' he said. He estimated that coastal protection and rehabilitation costs would amount to US million (S million) per kilometre for every 20-cm rise in sea level. The head of Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Sri Diharto, cited rising sea levels on the north coast of Java as one of the ""signs of freak weather'' that had been evident in the vast archipelagic nation. ""In Semarang and Surabaya, every time a high tide occurs, flooding will follow. Such a pattern never took place before,'' he told the conference. He also pointed to unseasonal tropical storms in Taiwan as an example of irregular climate patterns. Claims of rising sea levels in the Pacific Ocean were disputed at the Pacific Islands Forum on the Kiribati atoll of Tarawa on Saturday. Dr Wolfgang Scherer, director of Australia's National Tidal Facility, said that data gathered over the past nine years showed no evidence of sea levels increasing. But while no evidence existed of sea levels rising, he said, there was mounting evidence of oceans warming to some extent. --AFP

Description Alternative :

Global warming "threatens 2,000 islands',

Indonesia's vast and densely populated coastal areas are also at risk if climate change causes sea levels to rise, say environmentalists JAKARTA -- Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands but it could lose about 2,000 of them within 100 years if global warming is not halted, an environmentalist has warned. Global warming also has the potential to put Indonesia's vast and densely populated coastal areas under water, the head of the Pelangi environmental group Agus Pratama Sari was quoted by the Indonesian Observer as saying. He predicted the disappearance of islands due to rising sea levels, referring to data showing that the hottest years on record had all been in the last decade: 1990, 1995 and 1997. He was addressing the two-day Asia Pacific Regional Consultation on Climate Change in Jakarta, which ended yesterday. A member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Mr Sutamihardja, also warned that global warming would be likely to increase world temperatures between 1 deg C and 3.5 degrees C over the next decade. The global estimate for rises in the sea level over the next 100 years was between 60 cm and 1 m, he added. ""In Indonesia, with a total maritime zone of 85,000 sq km, it could be bad,'' Mr Sutamihardja was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying. Mr Sari said Indonesia stood to suffer because of its vast sea territory. ""We are the victims here,'' he said. He estimated that coastal protection and rehabilitation costs would amount to US million (S million) per kilometre for every 20-cm rise in sea level. The head of Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Sri Diharto, cited rising sea levels on the north coast of Java as one of the ""signs of freak weather'' that had been evident in the vast archipelagic nation. ""In Semarang and Surabaya, every time a high tide occurs, flooding will follow. Such a pattern never took place before,'' he told the conference. He also pointed to unseasonal tropical storms in Taiwan as an example of irregular climate patterns. Claims of rising sea levels in the Pacific Ocean were disputed at the Pacific Islands Forum on the Kiribati atoll of Tarawa on Saturday. Dr Wolfgang Scherer, director of Australia's National Tidal Facility, said that data gathered over the past nine years showed no evidence of sea levels increasing. But while no evidence existed of sea levels rising, he said, there was mounting evidence of oceans warming to some extent. --AFP